Charlson & Elixhauser Comorbidity Scores

Charlson & Elixhauser Comorbidity Scores#

Last modified: 18 Aug 2025

UK LLC worked with researchers to derive comorbidity scores for a number of LPS using the Admitted Patient Care dataset

Overview#

The dataset UKLLC_rtn_comorbidity_scores_mar19feb20_v0001_20230420 contains comorbidity measures derived from the NHS England Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC) dataset for the period 1 March 2019 to 29 February 2020.

The comorbidity indices included are Charlson and Elixhauser scores, each in multiple variants based on published weighting schemes. These measures are widely used in health services research for risk adjustment, mortality prediction, and burden of disease studies.

All scores have been calculated using the comorbidity R package, based on diagnoses recorded in the HESAPC dataset

Code used to create the scores can be found on [GitHub]( (GitHub)

Variables#

Variable name

Description

Weighting scheme / Source

unw_cci

Number of Charlson comorbidity categories present for each patient, without weighting.

Unweighted count

char_cci

Charlson score calculated using the original weights proposed by Charlson et al. (1987).

(Charlson ME et al., 1987)

quan_cci

Charlson score calculated using the revised weights proposed by Quan et al. (2011).

(Quan H et al., 2011)

unw_eci

Number of Elixhauser comorbidity categories present for each patient, without weighting.

Unweighted count

vw_eci

Elixhauser score calculated using the weights proposed by van Walraven et al. (2009).

(van Walraven C et al., 2009)

swiss_eci

Elixhauser score calculated using the Swiss hospital weights proposed by Sharma et al. (2021).

(Sharma N et al., 2021)

Inclusion & Data Source#

  • Inclusion criteria: All admitted patient care episodes recorded in HES for NHS England hospitals between 1 March 2019 and 29 February 2020 where LPS in the following list: [“ALSPAC”, “BCS70”, “BIB”, “ELSA”, “EPICN”, “EXCEED”, “FENLAND”, “GLAD”, “MCS”, “NCDS58”, “NEXTSTEP”, “NIHRBIO_COPING”, “NSHD46”, “TWINSUK”, “UKHLS”]

  • Data source: NHS England Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) – Admitted Patient Care.

Interpretation#

  • Higher scores indicate greater comorbidity burden.

  • Unweighted scores simply count the number of comorbidity categories present.

  • Weighted scores apply coefficients to comorbidities to reflect their relative impact on mortality or other outcomes, as estimated in the cited publications.

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